


&

by sportsnightnut



Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-21
Updated: 2018-10-21
Packaged: 2019-08-05 02:46:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 402
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16359227
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sportsnightnut/pseuds/sportsnightnut
Summary: Something that represents their partnership, their relationship, their commitment. Something that captures everything they’ve been through together and everything they might endure in the days ahead.





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**Author's Note:**

> A little ficlet based on a lovely prompt from @because-they-dont-exist on Tumblr : “Scully and Mulder getting small matching tattoos on their ring fingers instead of wedding rings.” Can really be set anytime you think these crazy kids should’ve gotten married, but is likely pre-revival era.

 

She wants something she can wear all the time. Something she doesn’t have to take off when she’s at the hospital. Something that can stand up to the dozens of daily hand washes and pumps of hand sanitizer she uses after examining patients. She wants something that won’t get scuffed up or scratched; something that won’t break, something that won’t get lost or stolen.

(That last part of the criteria is really the most important part:  _something that won’t get lost or stolen_. Because she’s lost  _him_ before. She’s lost a  _child_. Her happiness and her peace and her quiet have been stolen. Nearly all the hope she ever had of a normal life with her partner has been stolen. But now they have a chance to give this “normal life” thing a shot. And she doesn’t want the physical representation of this life to be in danger of loss or theft.)

She toys around with the idea of a silicone ring, but when she tries one on, it feels odd on her finger. And she’d still have to take it off. She’d still have to worry about losing it, even if a $35 silicone band isn’t worth as much as a diamond ring.

So she suggests tiny ring finger tattoos instead.

“I know it’s permanent,” Scully starts. “And it might be ridiculous, but I like the idea that I’d never have to take it off. It would always be there.  _You_ would always be there,” she adds.

“It’s perfect,” Mulder says, pressing a kiss to her temple. “Let’s do it. As soon as we’re done at the courthouse.”

* * *

They talk for some time about what symbol they want. Something that represents their partnership, their relationship, their commitment. Something that captures everything they’ve been through together and everything they might endure in the days ahead.

In the end, they choose an ampersand.

**&.**

It’s small, it’s simple. But it’s powerful.

It says to the rest of the world that they are not whole without the other. That to know one of them, you need to know both of them. That to love one of them, you must love both of them.

The mysticism  _and_ the science. 

The rational  _and_ the irrational.

The explained  _and_  the unexplained. 

The possible  _and_  the impossible.

The normal  _and_  the paranormal.

They are a unit.

Fox William Mulder  _and_ Dana Katherine Scully.

Agents  _and_  partners.

Husband  _and_ wife.


End file.
